Who are the best boxers in each of the original eight weight classes? Check out Boxing Junkie’s “Great Eight” feature.

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The proliferation of titles makes it difficult for all but the most astute fans to determine the cream of the boxing crop.

That’s why Boxing Junkie came up with its “Great Eight” feature, which names the best fighter in each of the original eight weight classes –heavyweight, light heavyweight, middleweight, welterweight, lightweight, featherweight, bantamweight and flyweight.

Heavyweight includes cruiserweight (and the WBC’s bridgerweight), light heavyweight includes super middleweight and so on.

It was easy to make our selection in some divisions. For example, heavyweight, which will continue to be ruled by Tyson Fury until someone takes him down.

Other weight classes took more thought. And you’ll notice one change has been made since the last time we posted Great Eight.

Here are our current rankings.

 

HEAVYWEIGHT – Tyson Fury (32-0-1, 23 KOs): Who else?

LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT – Dmitry Bivol (20-0, 11 KOs): The 175-pound champion delivered a break-through victory over Canelo Alvarez in May, giving him an edge in this weight class. A strong case could also be made for Artur Beterbiev. A fight between them would settle things.

MIDDLEWEIGHT – Junior middleweight champion Jermell Charlo (35-1-1, 19 KOs) claimed this spot with his knockout victory over Brian Castano in their May rematch. The top middleweights – Jermall Charlo (Jermell’s twin brother), Demetrius Andrade and Gennadiy Golovkin – are a step behind.

WELTERWEIGHT – Terence Crawford (38-0, 29 KOs): Crawford edges out Errol Spence Jr., who are in talks to fight one another in the fall. No one else at 147 or 140 is close to the big two at the moment, although one should keep an eye on young welterweight Jaron Ennis.

LIGHTWEIGHT – Gervonta Davis (27-0, 25 KOs): The decision to go with Davis here – to replace George Kambosos Jr. – wasn’t an easy one. Haney outclassed Kambosos to become undisputed lightweight champ last month. However, this feature isn’t about titles; it’s about the best fighters. And no one at 135 or 130 is better than “Tank”, although Haney and Shakur Stevenson aren’t too far behind.

FEATHERWEIGHT – Unified junior featherweight titleholder Stephen Fulton (20-0, 8 KOs) supplanted Gary Russell Jr. after Russell lost his featherweight title to Mark Magsayo in January. Rey Vargas, who took Magsayo’s belt, might be closes to Fulton.

BANTAMWEIGHT – Bantamweight star Naoya Inoue (22-0, 19 KOs): The Japanese star arguably is the best at any weight. Juan Francisco Estrada and Roman Gonzalez are pound-for-pound beasts but still a significant step behind Inoue.

FLYWEIGHT – Junto Nakatani (23-0, 18 KOs): The 112-pound titleholder takes over from Julio Cesar Martinez after Martinez was outclassed by Roman Gonzalez in March.